Manager, Sales & Commission Data Governance at NielsenIQ

Manager, Sales & Commission Data Governance Function: Revenue Intelligence & Sales Incentive Programs Reports to: Director, Sales Data Strategy, Governance & Territory Management Location: Pune Role Overview The Manager, Sales & Commission Data Governance is responsible for leading and overseeing the governance, validation, and integrity of CRM opportunity data used for Sales Incentive Plan (SIP) calculations and decisions. This role manages a team of Sales & Commission Data Governance Analysts and serves as the operational owner of commission relevant CRM data controls, ensuring consistent application of SIP rules, policies, and crediting logic. Acting as the primary escalation point between Sales, Revenue Intelligence, Finance, Deal Desk, and SIP Execution, the Manager ensures that deal data flowing into incentive systems is accurate, auditable, and defensible, materially reducing payout risk, disputes, and downstream adjustments. Key Responsibilities 1. Team Leadership & Operational Oversight • Lead, coach, and develop a team of Sales & Commission Data Governance Analysts. • Set clear priorities, workload allocation, and quality standards for opportunity review and validation activities. • Ensure consistent application of SIP rules and governance standards across regions and deal types. • Review complex, high risk, or exception based opportunities prior to final SIP eligibility determination. • Define and own commission data quality metrics and success KPIs, including error rates, exception volumes, validation pass rates, and remediation timelines, with regular reporting and root-cause analysis. 2. CRM Opportunity & SIP Governance Ownership • Own the end to end governance process for commissionable CRM opportunities. • Ensure validation of: o Deal value, revenue amounts, and contract attributes o Contract duration, booking logic, and SIP timing rules o Participant attribution, credit splits, and plan assignment logic • Serve as the final operational escalation point before opportunities are released into incentive calculation systems. 3. Data Integrity, Controls & Audit Readiness • Owns accountability for data definitions, quality standards, lineage, and downstream impacts across Sales, Finance, and Payroll. • Establish and maintain strong data governance controls for commission relevant CRM fields. • Ensure audit trails, documentation, and approval evidence are consistently maintained. • Partner with Finance, HR, and Internal Audit to support audit reviews, controls testing, and remediation activities. • Proactively identify systemic data risks and implement corrective actions. 4. Cross Functional Partnership & Escalation Management • Act as the primary operational interface with Sales leadership and Deal Desk on deal structure and data requirements o Revenue Intelligence and SIP Execution on eligibility and crediting decisions    o Finance on revenue alignment and payout accuracy • Resolve disputes and data issues in a structured, policy driven manner. • Escalate recurring issues, policy gaps, or system limitations to the Director of Sales Data Strategy & Governance. 5. Continuous Improvement & Standardization • Drive continuous improvement of CRM validation processes, rules, and controls. • Partner with Sales Data Strategy to enhance upstream automation and reduce manual intervention. • Contribute to the definition and rollout of global CRM data standards supporting SIP execution .• Support enablement by documenting governance standards, common errors, and required data practices. • Author, maintain, and version commission data and crediting governance policies, including clear decision frameworks, exception criteria, and global vs. regional standards. What Success Looks Like • High confidence in CRM data used for SIP calculations across all regions. • Material reduction in post-payout disputes, manual adjustments, and exceptions. • Strong audit outcomes with clear ownership, documentation, and controls. • Well-run, scalable governance operation with clear accountability and decision frameworks.